Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Guys And Gals...

So the other day I posted about girls writing guys well. So guys, how well do you write your girls?

Do me a huge favor, okay? Do not, NOT describe her like your fantasy girl. Come on, you know what I'm talking about. All those comic book geeks (and now gaming geeks) who make their girls well endowed with nice rear ends and impossibly tiny waists.

However, if you like a girl to have long hair, go for it. Same with hair color, eye color and intelligence. Same thing goes for girls as guys. Don't wussify them.

1) Don't make the girl seem so helpless without a man. Give her some spine. She's got to be able to stand upright!

2) On the opposite side of that coin, don't make her masculine.

3) Girls worry about their appearance. Duh. What you may not know is they usually obsess about their best feature.

I get insanely crazy about my hair sometimes. Same with my nails. I take great pride in having an awesome complexion. What expensive products give some women, I get with just soap and water. Don't hate.

4) Women like romance. They can insist they don't, but every girl wants to be swept off her feet. But give her independence.

All right ladies, feel free to add your two cents to this one.

6 comments:

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

Good pointers to keep in mind. Thanks for keeping me on track Caledonia. Now I need to go back and revisit my stories and make sure I'm portraying them to the best of my ability based on what I know.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

That's why I checked with my wife when I was creating the female character in CassaFire. And my critique partner Anne made sure I had other elements correct.
Don't worry - Athee is feisty!

Nicole Zoltack said...

That's a good idea, Alex, to have someone of the opposite gender read and make sure your opposite gender character reads authentically.

Mel Chesley said...

You're welcome Michael, lol! And very good idea, Alex. I always run my male characters past my husband. I like being on track with the different personality types of men and women. The chemistry has to be just right.

Anonymous said...

I have two WIPS going write now. The narrator in the first is a 14-year-old girl living in post-apocalyptic America circa 2400. The MC in the other is a 19-year-old badass chick who wanders a post-apocalyptic North Dakota 25 years after an unknown cataclysmic event, circa 2042. I wouldn't describe either as well-endowed, but both can kick ass. And while the 14yo isn't all glamorous and sexy, the 19yo is more comfortable in herself and her "abilities." In this instance, abilities is not a euphemism; she's a telepath/empath/seer.

Jamie Gibbs said...

I'm insanely bad at writing women, and so often I tend to avoid writing them wherever possible. I'm going to have to dive in at some point though.